Method of mounting cooperating tools



H. M. HODGE METHOD OF MOUNTING COOPERATING TOOLS Filed March 28, 1956 w W N T. N N R Ill w o d 3 I w w W. I H I l\ MA #7 l W W. H W6 l U 6 wm h 0 v 5 E m 1 H m 4 6 o 3 mm 3.1 6 9 0 Z H I 5 l l 1 1m m @I -\\\\\fl\2 ///d Z W la Patented Aug. 10, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF MOUNTING COOPERATING TOOLS Application March 28, 1936, Serial No. 71,442

Claims;

My present invention relates generally to improvements in the art of constructing tools or the like, and relates more specifically to an improved method of properly positioning piercing or distorting punches relative to their dies, and

vice versa.

Generally stated, an object of the present invention is the provision of an improved mode of quickly and accurately locating punches and dies, so as to insure most efiicient coaction between such tool elements.

It is common practice in the art of tool making, to utilize relatively standardized individual punch carriers or retainers for confining and supporting the perforating or distorting tools. These retainers are normally attached to a punch support or holder, and the punches must accurately cooperate with the corresponding depressions or openings in the female member or die upon which the work rests during the distorting or perforating operation. The die which is usually made special for each particular job, is mounted upon a supporting shoe having one or more fixed guide pins with which the punch support has sliding coaction,

and it has heretofore involved tedious work and considerable loss of time in order to secure fairly accurate location of the individual punches upon their support in such manner that one or more of these punches would properly cooperate with one or more depressions formed in a single die. In accordance with; the prior practice, the die maker would permanently attach the completed die to its supporting shoe, and would subsequently temporarily'attach the individual punch retainers to the punch holder so that the punches would approximately enter their receiving depressions or openings in the die. Then, by cut and try ,methods, the mechanic would adjust and finally position and attach each individual punch retainer to the holder in the desired position; and it was most difiicult if not impossible, with this prior method, to insure the production of accurate final results.

The present invention therefore contemplates the provision of a new method of positioning the punch retainers upon a support, so that most accurate cooperation of the punches and dies will result, thereby insuring production of extremely accurate distorted or perforated objects, and also prolonging the life of the tools.

' Another specific object of the invention is to provide simple and highly effective instrumentalities for eifecting rapid positioning of one tool so as to insure proper coaction thereof with a complementary tool or element.

Still another specific object of my present invention is the provision of a new and useful method of accurately positioning a punch retainer or the like upon its carrier and relative to a die, and for facilitating subsequent rigid attachment 5 of the retainer to its carrying member.

A further specific object of the invention is to provide a system for accurately and conveniently alining one or more cooperating punches and dies, without necessitating the use of cut and try methods.

These and other specific objects and advantages will be clearly apparent from the following detailed description.

A clear conception of the several steps of the improved method, and of the construction and use of one type of implement for carrying on commercial exploitation of the method of applying punch retainers to their supports, may be had by referring to the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate the same or similar parts in the several views.

Fig. 1 is a central vertical section through a typical punch and die assemblage, showing several individual punch retainers and punches cooperating with a single die and in the act of perforating a piece of sheet material;

Fig. 2 is a similar section through the same die, die supporting shoe, and punch support, the punches and retainers however having been replaced by several of the improved devices for facilitating proper location and attachment thereof to the retainer support; and

Fig. 3 is a part sectional bottom view of one of the improved punch attachment facilitating devices, the section being taken along the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Although the improvement has been shown and described herein, as being especially useful for the purpose of insuring proper cooperation between a perforating punch and"die, it is not the intent to unnecessarily restrict the scope by such specific embodiment or adaptation, and the improved method may obviously be employed to facilitate location of the dies instead of the punches, or possibly also for other purposes.

Referring to the drawing, the perforating assemblage illustrated in Fig. 1. is of relatively well known construction, comprising in general, a plurality of individual punches 5, 5, 5", each of p which is carried by and confined within an independent carrier or retainer 6, 6', 6"; a single block or die I having depressions or perforating openings 8, 8', 8" cooperable with the punches 5. I)

5" respectively to pierce a piece of stock 9; a lower support or shoe III upon which the die I is firmly mounted; parallel guide pins II, II fixedly secured to and extending upwardly from the shoe I0; and a punch support or holder I2 slidable along the pins II, II and having the punch retainers 6, 6', 6" rigidly attached thereto. The shoe Ill and bolder I2 are normally relatively reciprocable to perforate the successive pieces of stock 9 interposed between the punches 5, 5', 5" and the die 1, in any well known manner, and the material from which the stock 9 is formed, may be metal, wood, paper, bakelite, rubber or any other fibrous or relatively hard substance.

The punches 5, 5', 5" may be detachably secured to their respective retainers 6, 6, B" in any suitable manner, and these retainers are preferably rigidly attached to the holder I2 by means of positioning and clamping screws It which may have special heads, but all of which have threaded shanks coacting with threaded holes in the holder I2. The individual punch retainers 6, 6', 6 are of relatively standardized construction, and in some cases, the clamping screws l4 may be utilized to simultaneously clamp the punches and their retainers to the holder I2 in the manner illustrated in my prior Patent No. 2,017,247, granted October 15, 1935. The die I is usually specially constructed to suit each particular perforating job, and this die is rigidly attached to the supporting shoe I0 by means of clamping screws I 5 and positioning dowel pins IS.

The guide pins I I, I I may be attached to the shoe I0 in any convenient manner, and one or more of these pins may coact with a wearing bushing I! as shown.

The improved instrumentalities for facilitating location and attachment of the punches 5, 5', 5" and their retainers 6, 6', 6" to the holder I2 in proper position relative to the die openings 8, 8', 8", are shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and it will be noted that the punch holder I2 of Fig. 2 has not yet been drilled and tapped for the reception of the clamping screws I4. Each of the improved punch positioning devices comprises in general, a block I 8, I8, I8" adapted to coact with the flat lower surface of the punch holder I2 and having a bore within which a centering plunger I9, I9, I9" of corresponding diameter is slidable; a helical compression spring 20, 20', 20 disposed within the plunger receiving bore of each block I8, I8, I8" and coacting with the adjacent plunger I9, I9, I95; and one or more'center punches 2I carried by and slidably cooperable with another bore or bores extending through the blocks I8, I8, I8". Each of the plungers I9, I9, I9" has a tapered lower end 22 adapted to fit within die openings 8, 8', 8" of various diameters, and the center punches 2| have pointed upper ends 23 69 and are of sufiicient length to extend entirely through the corresponding blocks I8, I8, I8"

with which they are associated.

When it becomes desirable to. assemble a punch and die structure such as shown in Fig. 1, with the aid of the present invention, the die 'I is initially completed and attached to the shoe III with the use of the screws I5 and dowel pins I 6, and the blank punch holder I2 is prepared and applied to the guide pins II, II, as shown in 0 Fig. 2. One or more of the improved punch positioning devices, may thereafter be positioned as indicated in Fig. 2, with the tapered lower end 22 of the plunger I 9, I 9, I9" coacting with the adjacent die opening 8, 8', 8", and with the upper 75 flat surface of its block I8, I8, I8" coacting with the lower surfaceof the punch holder I2. The holder I2 may then be moved cautiously toward the die I, whereupon the spring or springs 20, 20', 20" will be compressed by virtue of the movement of the corresponding plunger or plungers I9, I9, I9" thereagainst and relative to the corresponding block or blocks I8, I8, I8". This compression of the springs by the plungers will continue until the center punches 2i are elevated sufilciently to bring their upper pointed ends 23 into engagement with the punch holder I2, and thereafter until center punch recesses for the clamping screws It have been produced at the proper positions in the holder I2. When these center punch recesses. have thus been formed, the holder I2 and shoe I0 may again be separated and the blocks I8, I8, it" removed, whereupon the reception holes for the clamping screws 54 may be drilled and tapped. Upon subsequent attachment of the punches 5, 5', 5" and their retainers 6, 6', 6" with the aid of screws I4 as shown in Fig. 1, the punches will accurately register with the corresponding die openings, and will thus insure accurate and clean-cut perforations in the stock 9.

From the foregoing detailed description, it will be apparent that the present invention provides an extremely simple method for accurately positioning the punches and for facilitating attachment of the punch retainers, to the punch holder I2, without utilizing any out and try methods whatsoever. The plungers I9 will accurately position the blocks I8 relative to the holder I2, and it is only necessary that the central axes of these plungers be spaced from the center punches 2I, distances equal to the corresponding distances between the punches 5 and the clamping screws I I. The center punches 2| will then accurately locate the centers of the clamping screws I 4, when the improved devices are positioned and actuated as indicated in Fig. 2, and the improved instrumentalities can obviously be quickly and conveniently utilized to perform their intended functions. The invention will obviously permit most eifective utilization of relatively standard individual punches and punch retainers in conjunction with complex perforating dies having any number of perforating openings therein, and the dies may obviously be split up into any desirable number of parts without regard as to the number of punches associated with each retainer. The present invention has actually proven highly successful in commercial use and has proven its ability to save considerable time and to insure most efl'icient final results.

It should be understood that it is not desired to limit the present invention to the exact details of construction and to the precise steps of the method herein shown and described, for various modifications within the scope of the claims may occur to persons skilled in the art. It is especially noteworthy that the improved positioning devices may be utilized for the purpose of accurately locating other-types of tools, and need not necessarily be utilized in conjunction with a punch.

I claim:

1. The method of attaching cooperating tool members to their relatively movable supports, which comprises, attaching the female member to its support, loosely positioning the male member carrier upon its support, interposing a retractible centering element between the opening of the female member and punch receiving socket of the male member carrier and simultaneously interposing a center punch for the fastener of the male member carrier between said supports, moving the supports toward each other to cause said centering element to accurately position the male member carrier and to subsequently retract so as to permit the center punch to accurately locate the center of the normal fastener for said carrier, and finally applying the male member fastener at the located center punch marking.

2. The method of attaching cooperable tool members to their relatively movable supports,

which comprises, rigidly attaching the female member to its support, loosely positioning the male member carrier upon the other support, interposing a retractable centering element between the opening of the female member and the retaining socket for the male member in said carrier, interposing a center punch between said supports, within the attaching opening in said carrier, and moving said supports to cause said retractable centering element to initially accurately position said retaining socket in alinement with said female member opening and to subsequently retract so as topermit said punch to accurately locate the center of the final fastener for said carrier.

3. The method of attaching a punch to its support in alinement with a die carried by another support, which comprises,'finally attaching the die to its support, loosely positioning the punch carrier upon the other support, placing a resiliently retractable centering element in the said element to center said carrier with the 'die punch receiving socket of said carrier'and causing the centering portion of said element to coact with the die opening to approximately position the punch carrier, interposing a center punch between said supports and within the normal attaching opening for said carrier, and moving said supports toward each other to cause opening and to subsequently retract so as to permit said center punch to accurately locate the center of the final fastener for the die and its carrier.

4. The method of accurately positioning a punch and die upon relatively movable supports, which comprises, finally attaching the -die to its support, loosely positioning the punch carrier alone upon its support, placing a spring pressed plunger having a tapered centering end cooperable with the die opening within the punch receiving socket of the carrier, placing a snug fitting center punch within the fastener receiving opening in the carrier between the die and the punch support, and relatively moving the supports to initially cause said plunger to accurately locate the punch center relatively to the die and to subsequently retract within the 'punch receiving socket so as to permit the center punch to accurately mark the location of the punch carrierfastening.

5. The method of accurately positioning a punch and die upon relatively movable supports,

which comprises, permanently attaching the die to its support, loosely positioning the punch carrier alone upon its support, placing within the punch receiving socket of the carrier a snug fit- 

